A few days ago I noted on this blog how drag racing seems to have followed us over to the Gulf, and to the UAE and Qatar, in particular.

And now we have seen that Little League Baseball, is here, too.

I wrote about Little League for the Tuesday editions of The National, catching up on how the local team did in Poland (yes, Poland) at the Middle East/Africa regionals.

And the really fascinating part of this? Little League over here has the same attractions — and problems — as does Little League back in the States. Who knew it could travel so far and so … well?

To wit:

The tournament that involved the team from the UAE (the Dubai Falcons) had many of the same issues that Little League historically encounters when big trips and big games are on the line. Even though baseball is rare and fairly exotic in the Middle East and/or Africa.

–Charges of overage players.

–A ticky-tack rules hassle involving Williamsport making a decree from afar.

–Complaints about travel.

–A sense of the some of the kids being overexposed in media; in this case, a documentary.

–And yet, some moments of what appeared, from descriptions, of good feelings and good sportsmanship.

Your basic Little League experience, that is. In Poland. Involving kids from Africa and the Middle East.

A little background: The Middle East/Africa (MEA) regional is held in … Kutno, Poland. Yes, Poland. As is the European regional, which makes more sense.

Why Poland for the MEA? I would think because Little League has shown a preference for using the same site for two regional tournaments per year (see: San Bernardino, Calif.), perhaps because they are so fond of the facility and the organization there that they find it easier to bring teams from great distances. Also, security concerns could enter in. Poland is a strong U.S. ally, and if any terror attacks have gone on there … I can’t think of one off the top of my head. The idea of a Little League tournament in some of the less stable parts of the Middle East and Africa is not appealing, nor is the idea of a bunch of kids (and a fair number of them Americans) collecting in one place for several days to play the very American game of baseball in a region where Stuff Happens Sometimes.

Anyway, though, it is undeniably strange  for these teams from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Uganda and South Africa to go all the way to Poland to play a four-day regional tournament. It also probably holds down participation because of the expense. So, yes, a five-team regional.

Now you know why they are in Poland.

Here is where the Little League stuff comes in.

Uganda showed up with a very interesting team, we are told. A bunch of kids who were both big and seemed quite physically mature. Eyebrows were raised almost immediately, particularly by the team from Saudi Arabia (Arabian American Little League, made up mostly of Americans).

The Uganda team, or the Reverend John Little League from Kampala, the capital, was followed by a film crew (Opposite Field Productions) that was making a documentary of their trip.  With an idea that Uganda could win and then go to the Little League World Series in Pennsylvania — a big deal to kids from Uganda, who have little or no money and were supported, in large part by the minor league baseball team in Trenton, New Jersey.

So, Uganda begins crushing people, and the way the story came back here … LL people from the Saudi team (a Williamsport regular) noted that two 10 year olds who were with the Uganda party were ineligible. The team apparently knew you could have players too old, but didn’t know you could have them too young.

Anyway, one of those 10-year-olds ended up coaching third base in an early game, and the Saudi team appealed to Williamsport over the infraction.

By the time Williamsport responded, Uganda had crushed both the UAE team from Dubai (13-3) and Saudi Arabia (9-3) in pool play. And the ruling from the U.S. was … the Uganda coach could not be at the ballpark for the team’s next game. A one-game suspension.

Apparently, Uganda had no other adult who had a clue as to how to run a team, and the kids were left to fend for themselves, and did not do a very good job of it as Kuwait beat Uganda, 9-6.  One theory, however, apparently put forward by Saudi parents, was that Uganda was throwing the game, so both it and Kuwait would finish 3-1 in pool play, and knock Saudi Arabia (also 3-1) out of the championship game on a tiebreaker.

However, the way it worked out, it was Uganda that lost the tiebreaker, once it had been interpreted (fewest runs allowed). The Uganda kids were crushed. They wept. They were disconsolate.  But they recovered enough on the final day to rout the UAE team again, 7-1, in the consolation game.

Anyway, the other teams (aside from Saudi, which defeated Kuwait to win the regional) apparently felt badly for the Uganda team, and tried to comfort them. The UAE team went so far as to play two “exhibition” innings in the consolation game so that the two 10-year-olds who had made the trip could play in the big stadium in Poland.

And when it was over, the UAE kids gave their uniforms to the Uganda kids (below), who are always short of equipment. A nice gesture. As cameras rolled.

Also, the UAE team, of 13 kids, had guys from five countries — the U.S., Canada, Brazil, South Africa and India. Which is an exercise in multiculturism that has to help baseball’s image in the region. (Generally, the UAE team also has some kids from Japan, but with the economic downturn in Dubai most of the Japanese kids went home with their parents.)

Anyway, I know this story now, or parts of it, and it’s fascinating how we could have replaced “Saudi Arabia” and “UAE” and “Uganda” and “Kutno” with a bunch of U.S. Little League names, and the story and the anxiety and infighting and “maybe this actually made us all better people, after all” parts of it … would be the same.